CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Three new members were sworn in to the Cedar Rapids Community School District Board of Education on Nov. 17, 2025, after outgoing members said their good-byes.
Related: Cedar Rapids election results for Nov. 4, 2025
Nancy Humbles, who did not seek re-election after 16 years on the School Board, was the first Black woman to serve on the board and as board president.
Humbles thanked the community “for your unwavering belief in public education.”
“I will always be cheering for the success of the Cedar Rapids schools, because once you serve, you never stop caring,” she said, her voice nearly breaking.
While Humbles did not reference her historic role on the School Board, her fellow board member, Marcy Roundtree, did.
Marcy Roundtree, Jennifer Borcherding and Nancy Humbles, (left to right) pose for photos after the Cedar Rapids School Board meeting. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
“I am a history maker,” Roundtree said of being only the second Black woman to serve on the School Board, after Humbles.
Roundtree, who served as the board’s vice president, was defeated in her bid for re-election for an at-large seat by newcomer Laura Zimmerman, a former Roosevelt Middle School teacher.
“It means a lot for teachers and students to have representation on this board,” Roundtree added. “As we walk off this dais, diversity leaves this board.”
Jennifer Borcherding, first elected in 2017, also made a statement during her final board meeting.
Newcomer Ashley Burns, who was supported by School Board President Cindy Garlock in her bid to unseat Borcherding, won the District 3 seat.
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Jennifer Borcherding, right, and Nancy Humbles watch the School Board proceedings after leaving their posts on Nov. 17, 2025. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Shortly after being sworn in the new board members voted unanimously with the rest of the board to spend $44,700 to demolish a house and barns on property acquired by the School District in January for $7.5 million, with the goal of building a new middle school on the site.
Constructing a new $104 middle school on the land was removed from consideration in the district’s school bond referendum, so nothing will happen on the site in the near future.
In order to waive inspection of the septic system as the property is transferred, the Department of Natural Resources requires the home to be demolished by Feb. 28, 2026. The DNR document does not reference the barns or other outbuildings.
The Cedar Rapids School Board voted to use PPEL funding to demolish a home and barns on property acquired by the school district for $7.5 million. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Surrounded by high-end residential developments, the land, outside the Cedar Rapids city limits between Cloverdale Road and Ushers Ferry Road, north of Collins Road/Highway 100, is currently being farmed.
While leaders say the district has two more middle schools than needed for the current enrollment in six schools, the School Board voted to use Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) funds to purchase the property, far from the city’s core.
The demolitions will also be funded through PPEL.
School district leaders emphasized the need to extend the PPEL levy for the maintenance of school buildings “to keep our students warm, safe and dry” before voters went to the polls in a special election in September 2024. The PPEL renewal, a tax on property owners in the Cedar Rapids School District, passed with 72 percent of voters.
New school board members, left to right, Ashley Burns, Laura Zimmerman and Scott Drzycimski are sworn in during the Nov. 17, 2025, board meeting. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Board members also elected a new president and vice president at Monday’s meeting.
Newcomer Scott Drzycimski, director of public affairs for ITC Midwest, won a three-way race to replace Humbles in District 2, and nominated himself to serve as School Board vice president. With no opposition, he was elected to that role at the board meeting.
Jen Neumann, first elected in 2019, won a board vote to serve as School Board president over Kaitlyn Byers, who was elected in 2023. Both Neumann and Byers nominated themselves to serve as president.
“With fresh leadership, we can bring renewed confidence to the district,” Byers said, in part referencing the failure of the $117 million school bond referendum earlier this month.
Byers received three votes: herself, Zimmerman and Drzycimski, to four for Neumann: herself, Garlock, Burns and David Tominsky.
Jen Neumann is sworn in as the new president of the Cedar Rapids School Board. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
While the bond measure received a majority of support, it was just shy of the 60 percent approval required to pass, garnering 59.28 percent.
That loss, and the overwhelming failure of a $220 million school bond referendum in 2023, led state Sen. Molly Donahue to call for the resignations of Neumann, past president Garlock, and former president Tominsky.
None of the three resigned and will be up for re-election in 2027.
More: State senator calls for School Board resignations
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